Happy Birthday, Alvie!

Happy Birthday, Alvie! We all miss you very, very much!!!!

Exciting New Project!

I am excited to announce that The Alvie McKenzie Family is currently in production of their second album, which has yet to be named! The "theme" of this album is bascially just good old church songs that we grew up with!

Tracks include:
Mountains of Glory
I'll Go
Let's Meet By the River
When I Feel God's Great Hand
Following Jesus
When We Meet Beyond the Sky
There's a Better Day Ahead
Then I'll Have Everything
Child of the King
I'd Never Miss Heaven for the World
And More!

Vocal tracks have been record by Cassie, Kellie and myself; and our core band for this album includes Jesse Gray on the piano, Dustin McKenzie on the bass guitar, and Rusty Walls on the drums. Additional instruments are being recorded in the coming weeks; and we hope to have the project mixed, pressed, and ready for your listening pleasure around the first week of December!

If you have any questions about this project and would like to learn more, please feel free to contact me at shannondbyrd@gmail.com!

-BYRD

Big Cove

For those of you who know and love the Big Cove Community like I do, follow my new blog (www.bigcovealabama.blogspot.com)! Thanks! -BYRD

Allison Elaine Flint

 

 

A tribute to a coworker and friend, Allison Elaine Flint, who passed away Friday at the young age of thirty-four...

 

I’d like to share with you one of my last conversations with Allison, in which she expressed the value of life and every moment within it.

After she came back to work after having her initial surgery, she “ticked”! Allison had an artificial valve placed in her heart, which resulted in a quiet, but ever present, ticking noise. I first noticed it when sitting beside of her in a team meeting. I said to her, “Do you hear a ticking noise!” She gave me a sarcastic look, pointed at her chest, and said, “It’s me!” I had no idea; but after she said that, I recognized the familiar sound as I had an aunt with the same mechanical valve and the same

‘tick’.

From that moment on, my mission was to try to make Allison comfortable with “the tick” by simply getting her to laugh about it. Sometimes I would look at my wrist, as if checking my watch, to “see where the ticking was coming from”; and she would just laugh and roll her eyes at me. And I developed a nickname for her, calling her “Tick Tock”. A few times I said, “Allison – you are the ‘bomb’!” Anything to get a laugh out of her and to cause her to share her beautiful smile with me, which she did so freely, and very often!

In one of our last team meetings, we were passing notes back and forth (yes – like you do in school or church); and I asked her if she still noticed the ticking and if it ever bothered her. Her reply was, “At first, it bothered me. But now, every time I hear it (the ‘tick’), I say ‘thank you Jesus’!” And then she shared another of her warm smiles with me. In this conversation, I was made to know that Allison was not only aware of her mortality, but also that she was thankful for every moment that she had to share with her family and friends.

I remember seeing Allison around campus before I ever had the chance to meet her. At first glimpse, it was easy to see that she was a beautiful woman! She had skin like a porcelain doll and a contagious smile that would cause you to smile back at her while passing in the hall, whether you knew her or not. And later in our careers, I was privileged to get to know her; and found her to be as beautiful on the inside as she was on the out – a person of high morals and values. All of these things I will remember; but I think what I will remember the most – is “the tick”. All too often, we take life and good health for granted; but every once in a while, we should stop and consider not only our own “tick”, but also the “ticks” of others – living life to the fullest, and ending it without regret.

Thank you, Allison, for spending some of your ticks with me!

-BYRD

Alvie...

Five years have now passed; but we still think of you every day!  We miss you!

Alvie Clyde McKenzie

October 17, 1959 - June 3, 2008

This Day in History...

Thinking today of my grandfather, Walter Lee Bird, to whom we said good-bye ten years ago today.  Granddaddy was born July 8, 1912, in Big Cove, Alabama, - the first child of Wiley Virgil Bird and Willie Ann Josephine Hunter.  He married Bertie Lorene Adams on Novemer 16, 1930; and to this union was born ten children - Rosie Lucille (Cowan), John Wiley, Peggy Sue (Knight), Alton Wayne, Sammy Ellis, Agnes Jane (Simmons), Phyllis Marie (Schultz), Nancy Kaye (Martin), Ronald Dale, and Kevin Alan.  A few years after my grandmother's death in 1975, Granddaddy married Ruby Jewel Rhoden Dodson.
I had the priviledge of growing up in Granddaddy's back yard and got to see him pretty much every day.  I love him very much and I know he loved me too.  After his mind got bad and he couldn't remember a lot of things, he could still recall my name - even though I didn't still get to see him every day after I had moved to Sand Mountain.  In fact, my name was the last that he called in the hospital the day he died.
Granddaddy Bird passed away February 27, 2003, at the age of ninety.

Happy 100th Birthday, Momma Guffey!

On February 18, 1913, Kellie's great grandmother, Vela Mae Morgan Guffey, was born to John Henderson Morgan and Susie Adelaide Whitehead Morgan.  Momma Guffey passed away in 2006, at the age of ninety-three.  She was a wonderful woman and is still very much missed by her family.

The photo above was taken at Momma Guffey's 90th birthday party, and features five generations of her family - Kellie McKenzie Byrd, Alvie McKenzie, Betty Guffey McKenzie, and Mae Morgan Guffey holding Mackenzie Leigh Anne Byrd.

Congrats, Leah & Heath!

Congratulations to Leah and Heath!  They were married on Thursday, January 24, at the Burritt Museum in Huntsville!  Marty and I were so pleased to be able to photograph this couple on their happy day!  Here are a few of their previews!

Easter Pics Coming Soon!

For several years now, Marty Rogers and I have hosted various holiday mini-sessions in the Big Cove area.  We've covered Valentine's Day, Easter, Christmas, and other random sessions as well.  This year will be no exception!  Our Big Cove sessions are being planned for Saturday, March 2nd; and I love our set this time!
Also, we're going to bring the mini-sessions back home and offer a full day of sessions at my home studio in Flat Rock!  It's been several years since I've hosted a session day at the studio, but felt like this was the right year to bring these wonderful deals and beautiful photos to a location that my friends and neighbors in the North Sand Mountain area can take advantage of!  Our Easter sessions at the studio are being planned for Saturday, March 9th.  Don't miss this amazing opportunity!
If you're interested in learning more about either date, please get it touch with us soon!  We have a limited number of time slots available and they WILL fill up fast!
More to come closer to time!

-BYRD

A Dear Saint Gone Home...

Today we mourn the loss, but celebrate the victory of a dear woman whom I've known for my entire life - Betty Carolyn Lawson Long.  Betty is the wife of my mom's first cousin, Bobby Long, and the mother of Mark, John, and Matt Long.  She was one of the absolute sweetest people I have ever known in my life, and I will miss her hugs and warm smiles.  She has suffered terribly over the years in body; however, her spirit has always remained strong as she managed through life with patience and without complaint.  My heart is with Bobby and the boys today as well as the rest of the family.

The photo with this post is of Bobby and Betty.  I had the priveledge of shooting their family photos a couple of years ago.  She was so proud of her beautiful family, and they all love their mother/grandmother very, very much!

-BYRD